A site of their own

Published 7:00 pm, Saturday, August 16, 2008

Austin Brinson, CEO of Texas Power Tech, works on a computer in the company’s office in The Woodlands.

Austin Brinson, CEO of Texas Power Tech, works on a computer in the company’s office in The Woodlands.

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A site of their own

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For the past several years, four students at the Academy of Science and Technology have been running their own company, Texas Power Tech.

The computer company was started in 2005 when Austin Brinson, Rayne Berison, Nishanth Nagavelli and Nathan Booker — all of whom were in the ninth grade — decided to formalize the work they’d been doing for years anyway.

“It’s a lot easier to sell what we do as a company,” Brinson said.

As Berison put it, when it was just him building computers for people or putting together a website, everyone wanted him to work for free or get his services at a large discount. Less people expect that for his work through Texas Power Tech, he said.

The company got its start with building and repairing computers and website design, and has since moved into database management.

Because of child labor laws not allowing people younger than 18 to work outside of set times, the company has hired 10 consultants — friends with an assortment of technology-related skills — to come in to the company’s office at 2408 Timberloch Place in The Woodlands and work.

“We don’t always go home after school,” Brinson said. “A lot of nights we’re not home until 9 p.m.”

The late hours probably owe to the fact they’re also busy with homework and school activities, primarily robotics competitions.

It was through one of her students that Christine Broyles, a teacher in Conroe Independent School District, heard about the company and became a customer.

Broyles had been considering starting up a new company, and turned to Texas Power Tech for help. Her business idea evolved into www.woodlandshealthandbeauty.com, a free online directory for everything from spas and nail salons to dentists, doctors and fitness centers in The Woodlands area.

After checking in with Brinson’s parents to make sure the company was legitimate, they proceeded to create the site, which Broyles said she updates daily.

Each of the four founders of the company has been involved with computers for the majority of their lives.

Berison, Brinson and Booker became good friends in fifth grade, and they were joined by Nagavelli two years later while they attended Mitchell Intermediate School. From there the four moved on to Branch Crossing Junior High and then AST, which is located at The Woodlands College Park High School.

Nagavelli said it was the problem solving aspect of computer code that attracted him to it. Although he’d been playing around on computers since he was four years old, it wasn’t until junior high that he started dabbling with computer languages.

Brinson too, said he has been around computers as long as he can remember. His father was a computer programmer, and Brinson first gave web coding a try in fourth grade. By the time he was in sixth and seventh grade he was taking classes and received certifications in computer networking and repair. The next summer he earned his MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator) certification, which is the standard for people who run business networks. The same year he worked as the computer aid at Branch Crossing Junior High.

The story is similar for Berison, whose dad worked for Hewlett-Packard. When he was seven years old and playing around on his dad’s computer, he managed to rack up about $700 in fees. He experimented, along with Brinson, with web coding in fourth grade, and by seventh grade he was starting to dabble in the Visual Basic programming language.

Booker, who is the photos and graphics expert for the company, also got into computers at a young age, setting up a network at his home while in third grade and first starting to use Adobe Photoshop in eighth grade. In addition to website graphics he also designs magazine ads for customers.